California

The Marin Community Foundation has announced the appointments of Barbara Clifton Zarate as director of the foundation’s Ending the Cycle of Poverty program and Shirin Vakharia as director of its Community Health and Aging program.

Maine

The Maine Community Foundation in Ellsworth has awarded $33,000 to the Knowlton Community Park Campaign, enabling the campaign to meet its goal of raising $500,000 by the end of the year, the Bangor Daily News reports. The gift was from a group of donors who preferred to remain anonymous. The remaining $400,000 needed for the $1.2 million project is expected to come from city government, private foundations, and in-kind contributions from businesses working on the project. Construction on the park is expected to begin in April or May.

Ohio

The Columbus Foundation has announced nearly $635,000 in grants to organizations working to improve the quality of life in central Ohio. Recipients include the Recreation Unlimited Foundation, KidsChoose.org, Mental Health America of Franklin County, and VOICEcorps Reading Services.

Oklahoma

The Oklahoma City Community Foundation has announced grants totaling $105,100 to eight nonprofits through its Services for Elderly iFund program. Grants ranging from $5,600 to $20,000 were awarded to Rebuilding Together OKC, the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, NewView Oklahoma, Hearts for Hearing, Redlands Community College, the St. Anthony Hospital Foundation, the YMCA’s Lincoln Park Senior Center, and the Metropolitan Better Living Center.

Pennsylvania

The Pittsburgh Foundation has announced that more than fifteen hundred applications were received for senior positions in the administration of Mayor-elect Bill Peduto through the foundation’s Talent-City Web site. A total of thirty-two job descriptions were posted on the site in November in such areas as finance and administration, public safety and urban affairs, and planning and innovation. A second phase of recruitment will begin in early 2014 when additional positions in the administration — including new and existing jobs — will be posted on the Talent-City.com site. The recruitment process is scheduled to continue for approximately six months, with an oversight committee providing ongoing advice and evaluation of the effort through the fall of 2014.

Utah

The Community Foundation of Utah in Salt Lake City has announced that scholarships for college-bound students are available from seven funds. They include the Home Education Leadership Fund, which was created to assist home-schooled students; the African Women’s Education Fund, for female refugees from Africa who wish to pursue higher education, technical training, or certification; and the Equity Leadership Fund Scholarship, for students who have demonstrated leadership in the LGBTQ rights movement. Deadlines to apply for the scholarships, which are available for the 2014-15 school year, vary.

Wisconsin

The Greater Milwaukee Foundation has announced a $50,000 grant to the Medical College of Wisconsin in support of research that may lead to the development of a new drug that could slow the progression of multiple sclerosis. Awarded from the foundation’s John and Elizabeth Boynton Fund, the grant will support research by Cecilia Hillard, a neuroscientist and director of the Medical College’s Neuroscience Research Center, and Bonnie Dittel, a neuroimmunologist, on T cells, a type of circulating immune cell not normally present in the central nervous system. Their findings also hold potential for a cure for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.